Futsal Premier League 2 & AWD Futsal League 2 Grand Final Preview

The inaugural Futsal Premier League 2 trophy day features nine high-quality trophy matches at the home of Futsal in NSW, Valentine Sports Park – and six of the league’s seven clubs will be represented.

The day is also highlighted by an anticipated AWD Futsal League 2 showdown between the competition’s top-two sides Phoenix Futsal and Raiders Futsal.

Six grade premiers lost their major semifinal a fortnight ago with four making amends in the preliminary final (15 girls & 16 boys premiers Raiders missing out) and ensure the top two teams feature in six of today’s deciders, fourth-placed open women’s side Easts hoping to topple premiers Boomerangs in the day’s biggest imbalance.

What a cracker of contest this is going to be! Open Men’s Premiers Sydney City Eagles beat runners-up Raiders Futsal twice in the season, including an 8-3 Round 5 meeting that also produced three red cards, but they had the tables turned on them in a riveting Major Semi Final that saw Raiders come from a goal down at halftime to equalise and win a gritty penalty shootout 3-2. Sydney City’s Heo Dongyong scored a grade-leading 12 goals this summer supported by Matthew Trotter (11) and Michael Candy (10), while Raiders netted more as a team led by Chris Godoy Bascur (14), Slaven Ljuboja (11) and Damian Smith (10).

Unbeaten Open Women’s Premiers Boomerangs FS had a blistering summer scoring 56 goals and conceding just 11 (lowest of any Football NSW Futsal league side), Olivia Gurney (10) and Najwa Allen (8) their primary targets, but fourth-placed Eastern Suburbs Hakoah have Kate Halasaka (17) and Emma Scott (5) can also bang them in. Boomerangs raced to a 4-1 halftime lead in their opening round clash in Sydney but since then it’s been pretty even, the Premiers hanging onto that scoreline to fulltime before coming from a goal down to win the return bout 2-1. Eastern Suburbs Hakoah have scored a dozen goals in their two finals.

Youth Men Premiers Sydney City Eagles racked up a comp-best 59 goals primarily behind Robert Perre (13), Giuseppe Camera (11) and Dimitri Konstantinidis (8) efforts, but they meet the grade’s tidiest defence in Boomerangs FS (22 goals conceded) with Michael Rinaudo (12) their choice weapon. The top-two sides finished equal on points and split their season results, Boomerangs winning 5-1 at home and Sydney City claiming the return fixture 4-2, only for Boomerangs to shock the first-place getters 4-2 in the Major Semi Final. Interestingly, the halftime score was 1-1 in all three contests and the match open to both sides.

AWD Futsal League 2 (3pm) – Phoenix Futsal (1) vs Raiders Futsal (2)

Premiers: Phoenix Futsal

Season results:

Round 2 Raiders Futsal 2-16 Phoenix Futsal

Round 6 Raiders Futsal 2-14 Phoenix Futsal

Round 9 Phoenix Futsal 5-5 Raiders Futsal

Major Semi Final Phoenix Futsal 4-1 Raiders Futsal Minor Semi Final Rangers FC def Botany Bay Pirates Preliminary Final Raiders Futsal 5-1 Rangers FC The AWD Futsal League 2 Championship decider should be fascinating, featuring an undefeated Phoenix that scored 95 goals and leaked just 17 against a Raiders outfit that’s netted 56 times. It looks shaky on paper, Phoenix taking 16-2 and 14-2 wins before Raiders stunned them in a 5-5 draw, and a tighter 4-1 Major Semi Final loss looks to have narrowed the gap. Six Phoenix players are in the top-8 scorers but if Raiders stars Sean Brown (17) and Shaun Fitzpatrick (16) can have good games and slow down sniper Sebastian Sauri (36 goals, 17 of them against Raiders) this could go either way.

17 Girls Premiers Boomerangs FS topped their age group, conceding just 21 goals and led by Alex Martens (13) and Rachel Corbett (7) up front, while Eastern Suburbs Hakoah fielded their own spearheads in Siena Hoban (13) and Eleni Bradley (13). Boomerangs should start heavy favourites having won all three meetings between the top-two teams, but it was a tight 4-3 Major Semi Final win (1-1 at halftime) that will give Eastern Suburbs Hakoah plenty of courage against the competition pacesetters.

16 Boys frontrunners Raiders Futsal will be missing from the decider after second-placed Eastern Suburbs Hakoah and fourth-placed Boomerangs bundled them out of the finals. Eastern Suburbs Hakoah have plenty of firepower with five players scoring 6-8 goals each, while Boomerangs have Zachary Barbatano (14) and Harry Williams (7) in their arsenal. The sides traded regular season victories with Hakoah thrashing Boomerangs 8-0 in Sydney before succumbing 2-6 in the next round at Canberra; but their true strength of character lay in disposing of Premiers Raiders Futsal in tough one-goal finals victories.

15 Girls (12pm) – Boomerangs FS (2) vs Phoenix Futsal (4)

Premiers: Raiders Futsal

Season results:

Round 4 Boomerangs FS 3-2 Phoenix Futsal

Round 11 Phoenix Futsal 1-0 Boomerangs FS

Major Semi Final Raiders Futsal 1-4 Boomerangs FS

Minor Semi Final Rangers FC 0-1 Phoenix Futsal Preliminary Final Raiders Futsal 0-1 Phoenix Futsal It’s second versus fourth after Boomerangs and Phoenix scuttled undefeated Premiers Raiders Futsal’s double-trophy hopes and it should be a great contest. It was a very low-scoring comp as Boomerangs (19 goals conceded) had Alicia Meuronen (11) as one of the top scorers while Phoenix (23 goals conceded) were aided by Maya Braun (6), Leila Hezlett (5) and Lauren Pruscino (5) efforts. Split season-results, Boomerangs coming from two down to defeat Phoenix 3-2 in Canberra before Phoenix hung onto a 1-0 halftime lead at Ryde, proves how close it has been between the teams.

Major Semi Final Sydney City Eagles 3-4 Eastern Suburbs Hakoah Futsal Club

Minor Semi Final Rangers FC 1-3 Raiders Futsal

Preliminary Final Sydney City Eagles 5-4 Raiders Futsal

It’s the 14 Boys best offence versus best defence when Sydney City Eagles (82 goals scored) meet Eastern Suburbs Hakoah (36 goals conceded) in the Championship decider. Sydney City won’t have to rely on league-leading scorer Dean Pelekanos (28) to get them home with Damian Tsekenis (13) and Chogi Koko (11) also in their pockets, while Eastern Suburbs Hakoah have Hesan Soufi (17) and Zachary Sapsford (12) at the forefront. It’s been gunfights all summer with Sydney City winning 7-5 and 7-4 during the season before Eastern Suburbs Hakoah shocked them 4-3 in a fiery Major Semi Final a fortnight ago. This will be an exciting encounter!

Major Semi Final Rangers FC 0-4 Boomerangs FS Minor Semi Final Phoenix Futsal 7-3 Eastern Suburbs Hakoah Preliminary Final Rangers FC 4-3 Phoenix Futsal Rangers FC won the 13 Girls Premiership on goal-difference over Boomerangs FS with Rangers scoring 76 goals thanks to Annabelle Daczko (19) and Lauren Pennell (19), Anna Vassallo (9) also chipping in against a Boomerangs side that scored 53 and conceded a lowly 22 goals, Cecilija Matic (11) and Stella De Marco (9) the star Territorians. Rangers won both regular season fixtures 4-1 in Sydney and 5-3 in Canberra, but Boomerangs fought back with a stunning 4-0 whitewash in a bewildering Major Semi Final to place plenty of question marks over who’ll today’s winner will be!

Runaway undefeated 12 Boys Premiers Eastern Suburbs Hakoah raced to a lofty 89 goals with only 15 conceded behind a solid team effort, Lee Charles (17), Jared Frack (12), Tye Mcgowan (13), Brad Benstock (10) and Josh Fuchs (10) collecting the most goals, while Boomerangs boast their own guns in Sebastian Woods (24) and Odhran Traynor (14). The ACT-based side fought back in a 6-3 loss to Eastern Suburbs Hakoah in Sydney and led 1-0 in a 2-2 draw in the return round at Canberra, and Boomerangs were great value in a tight 2-1 Major Semi Final loss a fortnight ago (it was2-1 at the break) to make this contest fascinating!